It is with a sense of jealousy, a feeling of having lost out, that I see King Mswati III of Swaziland is taking unto himself his 13th wife. I don’t for a moment want to garnish myself with 13 wives, however young and attractive they may be; how sensually they disport themselves at the Sea Point reed dances.

Cleaning up after Hurricane Katrina will produce the biggest insurance bill in history, possibly as much as -billion — twice as much as some early estimates. The prediction by Dane Douetil, chief executive of Brit Insurance, was accompanied by forecasts of rising premiums, particularly for commercial property and reinsurance in the United States.

Two months have elapsed since the G8 summit and already almost everything has turned to ashes. Even the crustiest sceptics have been shocked by the speed with which its promises have been broken. It is true that they didn’t amount to much. The World Development Movement described the agreement as ”a disaster for the world’s poor”.

More than 200 detainees in Guantánamo Bay are in their fifth week of a hunger strike, The Guardian has been told. Statements from prisoners in the camp which were declassified by the United States government on Wednesday reveal that the men are starving themselves in protest at the conditions in the camp and at their alleged maltreatment — including desecration of the Qur’an — by US guards.

Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank governor has left for Washington in a bid to prevent the country’s expulsion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Should the IMF demand compulsory withdrawal, it would be only the second time in history that the Fund has expelled a member.